<p>We are discussing two Williams summer programs for incoming first year students at EphBlog</p>
<p>Geminis</a> Only : EphBlog</p>
<p>I am looking for background information. Were any College Confidential readers invited? Please tell us about it. What were the invitations like? How much did the program cost? How big was it?</p>
<p>Did you apply? Did you go? What was it like? And so on.</p>
<p>Feedback much appreciated.</p>
<p>I participated in SHSS (not SHSSP) two years ago, '07.</p>
<p>David, the fact that you would cry and pout over something as simple as a summer college preparatory program, I will chalk up to your immaturity. But the fact that you actually went as far as to post pictures of 2007 SSP graduates - that makes you a truly despicable human being (what are you, like, 40? Get a life), and I think it’s high time someone called you out on that fact, so here goes:</p>
<p>For those who don’t know David, he runs a small hedge fund. He somehow always seems to find time to elbow his narrow-minded ideas into each and every Williams debate concerning race. His opinions are, in fact, disregarded each and every time, and his constant disparaging has caused him to be pigeon-holed as small-minded in most alumni circles.</p>
<p>Now, on to the subject at hand.</p>
<p>David, you brought up this same subject before, and were roundly dismissed. As a matter of fact, I believe you in addition challenged Professor Sam Crane (someone who is leagues smarter than you), and roundly lost that debate as well.</p>
<p>You say you don’t know the history of this program as well as you should; then don’t speak on something you don’t know about, because in most cases, your opinions will be incorrect.</p>
<p>Both SHSS and SSP admit both minorities and non-minorities. As the central goal of both programs is to provide under-served students with an opportunity to become acquainted with the work load and atmosphere of williams, most of those students will, naturally, be minorities. The program is not self-segregation, as it does not seek to separate SHSS and SSP students from the larger student population.</p>
<p>But there’s a larger point i’d like to make, and that is, even if SHSS and SSP <em>were</em> self segregating, I would not consider that such a bad thing. The truth is, Williams is a segregated school. In some cases, self-segregation at Williams is beneficial for minorities from disadvantaged backgrounds.</p>
<p>As for the openness of SHSS/SSP, the school is actually being pretty straightforward. It says the program is open to minorities and all first generation students. </p>
<p>I don’t have the time (nor the will) to continue this discussion, except to caution readers of collegeconfidential against paying heed to David’s rants. He’s a 40-year old child, with nothing to do but compromise the privacy of 17 year olds.</p>
<p>You’re pathetic, old man.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/williams-college/453631-winter-study.html?highlight=hedge+fund+kane[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/williams-college/453631-winter-study.html?highlight=hedge+fund+kane</a></p>
<p>Hey Grace - interesting you brought up my winter study post. While I would not want to compromise what little anonymity that remains on these boards with regard to my identity, I will say that I did, in fact, enjoy dinner with David Kane in January of 2008 - that’s how I met him. I would also include that the dinner in question involved at least 4 or 5 other williams students - so it was by no means one-on-one, and, as I remember it, was a bit superficial.</p>
<p>In the year and 8 months since, I have had the opportunity to delve a bit deeper into Mr. Kane’s views as voiced by him. While I would not describe David as racist, he does seem to possess a sense of reverse double-consciousness with regard to race that pervades the white student body at williams; that is, though students and faculty profess to believe wholeheartedly in equality and inclusion, their actions and mannerisms belie something…less than what seems apparent. I don’t want to argue that point on collegeconfidential, so I will not respond to replies on that statement.</p>
<p>Back to David.</p>
<p>I would like to make it clear that my issue with David is with his actions, and less prominently, his views. While he is entitled to possess whatever views he desires, his antagonizing and immaturity (such as, displaying pictures of SSP students on public forums and incessant baiting of professors involved with SSP & SHSS) I do, in fact, have a problem with. While I am an adult, and seek to handle differences of opinion in adult-like manners, there are some offenses which cause me to lose my coolheadedness, this being one of them.</p>
<p>With that said, I realize as well that my responses only serve to draw attention to David and his views.</p>
<p>So, I would conclude this conversation by noting that this issue is tantamount to beating the proverbial dead horse. Let’s move on.</p>
<p>rl. hill: I know you said it was a dead horse, but I don’t want to move on until I say that I am sorry that students could be embarrassed and humiliated in this manner.</p>
<p>As the proud father of an SSP participant, I was about to respond to Mr. Kane’s innocent-looking questions How much did the program cost?- when I read rl.hill’s posts. I then clicked on the EphBlog link and realized Mr. Kane was really trying to set a trap for naive 18 year-olds so he could gather ammunition to destroy the program my child so enjoyed. To see a 43 year-old snake-in-the-grass attempting to use children in that way is revolting, to say the least.</p>
<p>rl.hill:</p>
<p>1) I did not “post pictures of 2007 SSP graduates.” How can we trust other claims that you make if you can’t get this correct? The College <a href=“http://www.williams.edu/home/focus/ssp/”>posts this picture</a> and an EphBlog reader provided that link.</p>
<p>2) You write:</p>
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<p>You’re an undergraduate at Williams and you know what is going on “in most alumni circles?” Impressive! You realize that EphBlog is read by more Williams alumni than almost any other publication from the College. (And the College won’t publicly release its web statistics, so an accurate comparison is hard.) Perhaps Williams alums are more “small-minded” than you think. Perhaps they just enjoy reading my rants.</p>
<p>3) “cry and pout over something as simple as a summer college preparatory program?” Well, I guess it depends on your point of view. SSP and SSHS are not even in my top 20 things that I would change about Williams. If you want to see some real pouting, you should read the rest of EphBlog.</p>
<p>But, importance aside, I still find the programs interesting and, even more interesting, the way that Williams handles race and class. If you don’t think that these are interesting topics or you think that my viewpoint — given various referendums on affirmative action, a majority viewpoint in this country — is racist, then, by all means, don’t read my posts. Wouldn’t want to have to confront an opinion you disagree with!</p>
<p>4) You claim that the “central goal of both programs is to provide under-served students.” Really? I think that this is not true. For example, consider a student with two Ph.D. research scientist parents who has gone to Milton for 12 years. Is that student “under-served?” To my mind, obviously not. But, I <em>believe</em> — still looking for confirmation from the College — that such a student is invited to SSP if she is African-American.</p>
<p>Again, we can have a conversation about whether or not this is a good policy, but first we need to establish what the policy actually is.</p>
<p>mythmom is sorry that “students could be embarrassed and humiliated in this manner.” Are you claiming that no one should be allowed to know the details of these programs? That no one should be able to argue that the programs are good or bad? I will admit to some untoward comments on other EphBlog posts, but, looking at this comment thread, I see nothing written by me that is anything but sober and polite. What specific sentence written by me is something that I ought to take back?</p>
<p>williamsdad: My questions are not just “innocent-looking,” they are actually, you know innocent. I want to know what the policies are. Should that be hidden? Should the College keep the admissions procedures a secret?</p>
<p>But the good news is that, even though you don’t feel like answering my question, we have discovered the answer to: “How much did the program cost?” The answer is zero! In other words, even a student with wealthy parents gets to participate in the program for free. Does that seem like a good idea?</p>
<p>dkane: You are absolutely right. I should not comment with incomplete evidence. My immediate response is always to console and support young people. Not always accurate, so my apologizes if I did you an injustice.</p>